Hello! The clouds have started to part in my corner of the world and it feels like Spring! I took the cookies you see above on a walk to surprise my friend/neighbor with a little sweet treat for her birthday and there were so many budding branches, tulips, and pops of California blooms showing off in everyone’s yards. I didn’t get a chance to experience the delights of Springtime around our home last year because almost exactly 1 year ago we packed up our life into boxes, moved into a house in the woods of Lafayette, and started the demo and renovation of our home. Crazy to think how much has happened and how much we missed being here within that time!
In other life news, Reuben and I celebrated our 10 year dating anniversary (we’ve been married for almost 2 but it felt important to acknowledge a decade of something!) over the weekend AND it has been 3 years with our sweet Olive Loaf in our life. I treated Olive to a freshly steamed Japanese sweet potato (her obsession lately) and Reuben and I had dinner at Buckeye Roadhouse (a restaurant we’ve seen off the highway in Marin with the most enticing neon sign for as long as we’ve been together). It was dark and woody with a good dirty martini and everything I hoped it would be.
The Cookies
Anyways, I know you’re here for the cookies! The cookie base is soft and buttery with the crunch of bright strawberry sugar in each bite and filled with a tangy and sweet passionfruit curd center. They taste like springtime and remind me of that first waft of fresh warm air when you go on vacation to somewhere sunny and tropical.
The star of these cookies is really the passionfruit curd. Last year, I made at least 5 pounds of passionfruit curd for my friends’ wedding cake. I got so many requests for a recipe but after testing and retesting it for the cake and the 3 day experience of making the actual wedding cake and transporting it, I couldn’t fathom making another batch of passion fruit curd. I guess 10 months or recovery time is all I needed!
Making the curd is actually very easy. The hardest part might be locating passion fruit. My grocery store, Berkeley Bowl, sells bags of frozen passion fruit pulp, which is super convenient, but I’ve also seen frozen cubes of passion fruit at Whole Foods to throw into smoothies. If you have access to fresh passion fruit then that’s even better! If you want to make these cookies but really can’t find any passion fruit, substituting the filling with a good lemon curd will also be delicious! The recipe makes more passion fruit curd than you will need for the cookies, which is very intentional because you will want to swirl this into your yogurt bowls or make more cookies very soon. Store leftover curd in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Since we were talking about substitutions… the strawberry sugar coating is made by blitzing freeze dried strawberries (I always get mine from Trader Joe’s) with coarse sugar or raw cane sugar for a pop of color, punchy berry flavor, and a little crunch. I think the strawberry flavor is a nice compliment to the passionfruit, but again if you can’t find freeze dried berries just omit them and simply roll the cookie dough in coarse sugar. Even with a few tweaks, these cookies are going to brighten up your day no matter what!
What’s Cooking This Week
I’m starting a new little section where I just share what I’m cooking for dinner and working on in the kitchen this week. It’s a sneak peek at potential future recipes you might see in the newsletter or might inspire what you might make for dinner this week. If anything sounds especially exciting and you really want the recipe or want to know more about it, just let me know in the comments!
Cumin Beef and Celery Stir-fry | I’ve been obsessed with celery latelty and just realized how delicious it is cooked and not hidden within a mix of carrots and onions. When you let it shine on its own it is so tasty and refreshing, especially with spiced beef!
Taro | I'm working on a taro guide or taro series where I detail how to prep and prepare it for a few different recipes. I’m thinking sweet taro paste for milk bread, crispy fried taro pancake, dim sum style taro cake, and taro boba. Is there a favorite taro recipe you think I should work on?
Soy Smoked Chicken and Smoked Tofu | My husband made the most delicious smoked tofu for dinner last night and I immediately knew it needed to be a recipe. I’ve been holding back on sharing smoked recipes using the Traeger because it feels very limited to people who have Traegers, but the food we’ve been making on it has been too good to just keep it to ourselves. The Soy Smoked Chicken was a huge hit at our LNY party!
Pasta e Fagioli | beans are soak and this is what’s for dinner tonight : )
Strawberry Passion Fruit Cookies
Makes 24 cookies
For the passion fruit curd:
200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
5 large egg yolks
227g passion fruit pulp
113g (8 tbsp or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter
For the cookie dough:
300g (2 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
14g (2 tbsp) powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
200g (14 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
125g (2/3 cups) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
For the strawberry sugar:
10g (about 1/2 cup) freeze dried strawberries
50g (1/4 cup) coarse sugar
Make the passion fruit curd: In a medium bowl, whisk to combine sugar and egg yolks until smooth. Add the passion fruit pulp to a medium saucepan and heat over medium until just starting to simmer around the edges. Very slowly pour or ladle in a little bit of the warm pulp into the sugar mixture while whisking constantly. Continue to combine until all the pulp has been incorporated. Whisk the mixture until very smooth. Pour this back into the saucepan and heat over medium low heat until thick and creamy while stirring constantly with a flexible spatula, it should be able to lightly coat the back of a spoon, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the butter and stir until the butter melts and fully incorporates into the curd. Transfer the curd to a heat-safe bowl or container and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. This makes more curd than you will need for the cookies, store leftover curd in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Mix the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed until pale in color and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until mostly incorporated. Add the flour and mix on low until a cohesive dough forms, 30 seconds, scrape the sides with flexible spatula if needed. Transfer the cookie dough to a bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Chill the dough until firm but still pliable, about 45 minutes. If chilling longer, allow the dough to slightly soften but allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.
Make the strawberry sugar: combine the freeze dried strawberries and coarse sugar in the food processor. Blitz a few times until the berries break down and you have a bright pink sugar. Transfer the strawberry sugar to a small bowl.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees and line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Form the cookies: Scoop 1 1/2 tbsp portions of dough and roll between your palms into a smooth ball. Roll the dough in the strawberry sugar, pressing slightly to make sure the sugar adheres to the dough. Arrange the cookies on the baking sheets spaced at least 3 inches apart. Gently flatten the dough balls with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass until it is 1/2” thick (be careful to not flatten too much). Make a divot in the center of each cookie with a teaspoon or you can use your thumbs. Fill each cookie with a heaping teaspoon of passion fruit curd.
Bake the cookies until lightly golden brown around the edges and the curd is slightly puffy (the curd will deflate and settle as the cookies cool), 12 to 14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, sprinkle the tops of each cookie with leftover strawberry sugar, and then transfer to a wire rack to fully cool.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 day and then transfer to the fridge if storing for longer.
These are so cute, Kristina. I've also found curd freezes amazingly well for months!
If you are interested in taro recipes, there is a Hawaiian taro cake called kūlolo. Thanks for the cookies, i will have to try these!